"As a marketer it is your job to convey the message, be it to increase the share of market, a branding exercise or a pure sales drive", he says. "The message is always more important than the design in a marketing campaign, it comes as a result of consultation with the client and more importantly from an understanding of their business aims. It is the agency's job to translate that proposition into a quantifiable campaign, you can only achieve this by fully understanding what it is they want to promote or achieve. Once this has been established, this finalised concept can be executed using creativity, within brand and on message. These aims should always be outlined before creatives are even approached, because details such as who the target audience is, where to promote the message, what media platforms to use and what the desired result will be are all essential touch points that need to be defined first of all."

But a compelling message is wasted if the design is not up to scratch, although no campaign should be design led, warns Mollart.

"No matter how well defined a proposition is and how clever the concept is that accompanies it, a poor visual execution can easily lead to the failure of a campaign. But a successful campaign will always need, first and foremost, a clear message and the correct media placing. A campaign led solely by design, while visually impressive, may risk being pithy, unsubstantial and unfocussed because of the lack of a defined message."